Hello ATS, I'm EdisonintheFM

Technically this is not my first introduction. I've been a member three times before but I am bad with keeping passwords, and phones. I gave up on laptops so for almost a decade I've been using Androids to surf the web. I get easily frustrated, and over a year ago I was unable to log in to ATS, tried for weeks and at the same time I couldn't get into the email addy I had...so I went back to lurking on ATS.

Which was fine for me, I honestly don't like "texting" my thoughts, sentiments, advice, comments because TONE and INTENT are at times lost. I may comment on something and someone may think I'm trolling or being a smartmule. And I've actually misinterpreted others' comments as well...

As far as THIS introduction goes, and I hope it's my last, I want to first say I appreciate ATS, the mods, the veteran members, and the newer members, as well as any lurkers that remain unknown.

I can say I have actually learned quite a bit on ATS, not just the conspiracy side of it, but the people who make threads with good intent, the snarky commentators, the trolls, the constant reminder for civility from DTOM....it actually makes me smile when I see some of the mods participate in threads. They are necessary, and I for one am grateful for them because it could be Disqus doing the moddin', and I'd prefer to be reprimanded and censored by an actual human, not some AI program that let's NOTHING slide. So thank you mods for the time and effort on your end, I know I'm not alone when I say mucho gracias.

For you relics that have been here for years, kudos for hanging around. It seems everything is a fad now, here today and on a milk carton tomorrow. Believe or don't, ATS is the one constant for me, as far as the internet goes, since 2008.

Before I share how I found ATS I want to share this: I have been fascinated with "conspiracies" since I was a child, from UFOs to Bigfeets to Ol' Nessie to government wrongdoings such as JFK. But pre-internet it was limited to Follywood's products, the yearly cliffhangers about Bigfoot and the others I just listed, and conspiratorial films like Oliver Stone's JFK. Then in the 90s I bought the X-files Season 1 on VHS, and I was hooked. I had a fondness for the Lone Gunmen characters, I wish I could have made a living doing what they did.

Most people accept the fact that there are indeed conspiracies, not just theories, but the stuff that's revealed like MK-Ultra, Manhattan Project, Operation Paperclip...in highschool in the library was a book on the CIA and there was a picture of a man's head...well, it had exploded and the picture showed his body waist up, he's in a suit, and his head looked like a meat-filled balloon had popped...the caption said he had volunteered to do an experiment using sound waves....I don't think The Men Who Stare At Goats comes close to revealing what goes on with the Alphabet Agencies. But that book turnt me on to government experiments and created a thirst that I honestly wish I never had.

So...fast forward to September 11th, 2001, that afternoon I told my uncle I didn't understand how that could happen, it made absolutely no sense, and I remember asking him "Isn't the Pentagon supposed to be the most secured and guarded building in the world?". Everyone around me was devasted. We weren't scared but confused, how could 9/11 happen when we, America, had the branches of the military that we have, America is supposed to be a Superpower nation. Eventually the dust settled, no pun, and life went back to normal, for North Carolina at least.

In May 2002 I was working at Domino's Pizza, it was a Friday night, 2:15am, and I was mopping the floor. There were six other employees working and about 60 seconds after the last driver walked in from his last run, someone grabbed me and yelled "Get the funk down!", I started laughing because I thought it was a driver and I looked down at my feet and saw blue jeans and Timberlands and then felt the gun to the back of my head. I lay on the floor with a knee in my back with that gun to my head for under two minutes but it felt like an eternity. I'm a believer of God and the Bible, didn't really live like it back then, I just kept whispering "Jesus" over and over. Eventually the three robbers left...I forgot, one other one did crowd control, the third was in the office getting the money, while I was on the floor. Needless to say it affected me and six months later I moved, left NC and went to SD.

After moving to a city that was virtually crime free, I got my head right. I had found a little piece of heaven on earth. Beautiful city with great people. So after my first tax refund there I bought a Walmart HP POS...it did the job, but for $450 in 2003 I should have gotten a better desktop, whatever. I spent the first two weeks downloading music...then movies....then I was bored, didn't see what the internet could offer me so I spent my time with my GameCube and DVD player. Then a coworker told me about a file sharing program called Kazaa...it wasn't all that, for me, but I did get hold of rare music and movies, that's all I wanted. I somehow managed to download a CSPAN clip, it was about two or three minutes long. It was Cynthia McKinney standing before Congress with large manilla envelopes/folders, she's slamming them down, one by one, while she tells her colleagues she has PROOF the CIA is running drugs, operating child sex rings, doing assassinations, all over the world and in the U.S.

I probably watched that clip a hundred times, plus I kept my TV on CSPAN for weeks. Then I got over it, I would tell people about it but they'd say "Wow" then it was like...nothing. No one seemed concerned. Amazing.

Few years later, the Norway Spiral happens, I was bored one night, went to the hotel my live-in girlfriend worked at and hopped on a computer guests could use in a side lobby. I was trying to find more info on the Spiral and came across Above Top Secret and clicked the link. At that time the ATS main page had a vid of the twin towers smoking so I watched vid and I became addicted to ATS. That's not an exaggeration, I spent any free time at that hotel on that computer, at times I felt I was on a drug. It was hard to comprehend some of the things I was reading on ATS. I became obsessed, and after months and months of lurking I joined by phone but it was a crappy phone, non Android, so I had a tiny screen and tiny keyboard and I finally stepped away. The last thing I read on ATS with THAT phone was a transcript of some government dude taking to some other dude about underwater UFOs that could move around like there was no gravity or resistance under water.

2011 I move back to NC because of Dad's health. Bought my first android, a Samsung Dart, and went straight to ATS. It's all I knew to do on the web, besides Fakebook, at that time. I lurked a few years then joined again. Lost that phone, lather rinse repeat, and a week or so ago I found out ATS had worked out some kinks I guess, after trying to join the last year, here and there, last week it let me. Yay.

Now let me share who I am, I'll make this brief....

I'm almost 50, white, male, fairly conservative, I believe in God, I voted for Trump, don't like guns but I'm for the second amendment, as well as the Constitution as a whole, I love to cook, like to clean, even windows, but I hate to sweep, I prefer to mop. If that triggers any of you then boo freaking hoo, I despise social justice. So...that's it.

Forgot, Happy Memorial Day.

I'm about to gather what I need to grill dogs and burgers for me and some neighbors.

Fellowship is important, especially with the way it's been since November 2016.

So if you're alone, get out and find someone to hang with. It's a holiday, it's nice out, spend some time with friends and family. Tomorrow is not promised.

originally posted by: EdisonintheFM I've been a member three times before but I am bad with keeping passwords)

i had similar experiences, hence the '5' at the end of my username

welcome back and have a good one

Welcome back. I tried to check out a few times...but never left lol.

a reply to: EdisonintheFM

...in highschool in the library was a book on the CIA and there was a picture of a man's head...well, it had exploded and the picture showed his body waist up, he's in a suit, and his head looked like a meat-filled balloon had popped...

A heck of a book for a school library !

Got to be someone here who knows the name of the book.

a reply to: Trueman

Well, this would have been my senior year, so either '89 or '90. I skipped lunch and usually went to the library. All I remember about it is it was a book specifically about the CIA. I don't remember too much but I do recall reading about the CIA's involvement in Nicaragua--cannot remember what for. It was not a book against the CIA, but more like a "here's what the CIA is about". In the section with the sound experiment I do recall them saying something about a bulletproof suit, as in business suit. That's all I got. But believe me, I found way more adult books like that in the school library than I could in the public library. Don't think they'd pass the sniff test these days....

a reply to: AccessDenied

Thank you. I've taken breaks because at times I started to meltdown...like seen when Neo falls to the floor and vomits the oatmeal looking stuff...I mean I dug too deep too fast and had an overload, even questioning my own existence, as well as God's. So I've backed away two or three times, once for about a year, or close to it. There's so much to read here, and it's not all end of the world thirteen families of reptiles munching on babies but useful everyday info, movie reviews, pet talk, so much.

I do hate politics has taken a front seat but it does appear UFOs and aliens are climbing back up the ladder, and oddly enough it's somewhat related to politics, I think.

Shiny keys. Whoever said that the other day in a thread is correct. Shiny keys in the right hand while the left is doing only God knows what.

a reply to: RoScoLaz5

Thanks, and same to you. I have a full belly at the moment, Digiorno stuffed crust 3-meat, split it with a neighbor, going to cook us hotdogs, burgers, and tater tots later, most neighbors are out and about. I wanted to do something for them, I usually keep to myself since I'm the white sheep of this complex. Got great neighbors though. I feel welcome and I hate it but I'm going to have move, don't want to, but landlord is a slumlord, my living room floor is caving in....so...yeah, I must gtfo of here.

a reply to: EdisonintheFM

Hello and welcome back!
You sound like an interesting and nice person.

a reply to: Night Star

I appreciate that. I try to be laid back and easy going. I know people have different views and opinions, I try to respect that. I've had a few brushes with death so I try to be thankful for every day I live. I've always been a friendly person but I'm more outspoken now than I've ever been. Sometimes that's a good thing, other times not so much.

Hi there and welcome to the site. I should say welcome back again.

a reply to: rickymouse

Thank you, rm, it's good to be back. ATS is a great community as far as I'm concerned.

Hello Edison.

You sound like someone I would enjoy having as a friend. Welcome back!

a reply to: tinker9917

Thank you, tinker, that's probably the best compliment I could get. I used to think friendship was overrated, but I realize it is actually underrated. Sometimes a friend is more beneficial than a family member.

a reply to: EdisonintheFM

Welcome back!

Your story actually kept my attention, it’s very interesting.

I like to clean too, ha.

See ya round!

a reply to: CrazyBlueCat

Thanks, I guess its interesting from the someone else's eyes, but I'll admit, never a dull moment.

I once had a gray cat that had a blueish tint. Previous owner named her Church (Pet Cemetery she said). Church would run around, stop, make weird purr sound like derrrrt, then jump straight up and when she landed she would be facing the opposite direction.

Your name reminded me of her.

a reply to: EdisonintheFM

Well isn't that interesting as well. I love a good story. And you seem to have many

I like that